Party in the Park's International Celebration unites community

Ellen Kobe/The Oregonian14-year-old Pooja Ghelani, a Seattle resident and dancer for the Jayanthi Raman Dance School, performs a solo, fast-paced dance at Beaverton's International Celebration at Party in the Park.

The Hawaiian hula dance school, Hula Halau 'Ohana Holo'oko'a, of Aloha, was performing as part of Party in the Park's new event, the Beaverton International Celebration.

"Beaverton International festival gives us the opportunity to not separate ourselves as Hawaiians, but to be part of the greater group," said Kaleo Panukula, a Sherwood resident and the emcee for the show.

This summer's Party in the Park included activities traditional to the festival, such as a classic car show, family triathlon and the Beaverton Police Department's canine show. But wedged between the events was the International Celebration, in which 15 different cultural groups -- such as Indians, Indonesians, Latinos, Koreans and Irish -- performed music or dance.

Hundreds of people spent the afternoon watching shows on bleachers or in the grass and browsing through booths that lined the lawn in between the two performance stages and offered various trinkets, crafts and educational information about different cultures.

In five years of working at the park district, Bob Wayt, its director of communications, never saw such a variety of ethnic groups attend Party in the Park until this weekend.

"An event like this is doing what it's supposed to do -- bring out more of the ethnic groups in our population and make them feel welcome," Wayt said.

The large amount of different ethnicities Wayt and those participating in festivities saw on Saturday could reflect the diversity of Beaverton residents. The city's ethnic breakdown is 66.3 percent white, 16. 3 percent Latino, 10.8 percent Asian, 2.5 percent African American and 4 percent multiracial, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Beaverton Mayor Denny Doyle said the city embraces and promotes diversity.

"It became pretty loud and clear that the community thought we should start celebrating all of the things that make us different," he said.

The addition of the International Celebration began last February, when Debra Fife, special events and volunteer coordinator at the park attended a city meeting addressing diversity. The city wanted to organize a festival celebrating Beaverton's ethnic diversity and the park had the resources -- 92 acres of land and an annual event that typically draws in thousands of festival-goers.

14-year-old Pooja Ghelani of Seattle, a dancer with the Jayanthi Raman Dance School in Beaverton who lived here until two years ago, frequently performs Indian dance for audiences. But she had never performed at a multicultural event like this before.

"I think the International Celebration helps the community appreciate the different groups who live near us," she said.